Criminal Minds is an ensemble television series featuring FBI agents who track down serial killers. It is a mystery who-did-it show, but in this case, the clues stem from the criminal’s own behavior and actions. The team members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit develop a profile based upon personality characters and determine from that profile who the killer is. It is a well-balanced mix of comedy and drama, love and action. It also features three amazing and empowering female characters.

 
Emily Prentiss is the daughter of Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss. As a child, she traveled all over the world with her mother and is fluent in several languages such as Arabic and Italian. She also has a thorough understanding of and disgust with politics. She first appeared in season two. Near the end, her superiors wanted her to spy on the leader of the BAU or else lose her job. Emily Prentiss refused to be a political pawn and submitted her resignation. Fortunately, Penelope Garcia intervened to keep Prentiss at the BAU. She has appeared in seasons two, three, and four. Her skills and expertise are especially useful when the team must confront Muslim extremists or the Russian mafia.

“JJ” Jareau is the only woman and the second team member to have attended college on an athletic scholarship. The second team member with an athletic scholarship was Derek Morgan. JJ handles all the cases sent to the BAU and determines which cases need her department’s attention. She is also highly skilled with a gun. In one episode, she entered a barn full of viciously and violent dogs; when they ran to attack her, she defended herself and shot every dog. In a two-part episode, a man attacked her friend Penelope Garcia and infiltrated the FBI headquarters. JJ defended her friends and her colleagues by shooting the attacker point-blank in the head. At one point in the series, JJ became pregnant; New Orleans officer LaMontagne was the father. When he learned of JJ’s pregnancy, he moved to be with her and help her raise the baby.

Then, there is Penelope Garcia, the Technical Systems Analysis. When the team is investigating a potential suspect, she utilizes her computer skills to pull up vital information and also to hack into computers. The information she receives often clears a potential suspect or confirms the suspect as the criminal. Garcia is so adept at computer hacking that the government lists her as a threat to national security. This ultimately led to her receiving a job at the BAU. “If you can’t beat them, hire them.” The team was shocked to discover this due to her flamboyant and loving personality.

Garcia is the fun-loving comic relief of the group, but her comic relief comes from her own quirky personality. When her team members call her, she once answered with “This is the office of All Knowing; how may I be of assistance?” and at another point, she ended a call to her team with, “I’ll see you later, my furry friends.” Garcia and Derek Morgan are close friends, Garcia being the only woman Morgan truly trusts and confides in. They once had crushes on each other and exchanged sexual banter until Garcia became passionately involved with another Technical Analysis, Kevin Lynch, in the third season.

The fifth season of Criminal Minds will start airing Wednesday, September 23, 2009. It is shown on CBS and A&E.